Cable networks are used for multiple things, including, but not limited to, television (TV), telephony, and broadband internet. Cable TV is a system for delivering television programming to subscribers via a cabled network. Often, cable TV network operators also offer internet services they deliver using the same cable network.
Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. A mobile network is a communication network where the last link is wireless (and the rest is cabled, that is, cabled network). The mobile network is distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver, but more, normally three, base transceiver stations. These base transceiver stations provide the cell with the network coverage that can be used for transmission of voice, data and other means of communication. A cell typically uses a different set of frequencies from neighboring cells, to avoid interference and provide guaranteed service quality within each cell. (see, for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_telephony, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_network, Last accessed Jan. 16, 2018.)
Cable TV, mobile telephony, and in general “services” are delivered by operators to subscribers (or customers) through a cabled network, among other equipment. Cables can often be seen hanging on posts in the streets and routes. These cables carry electrical signals. The cabled network must provide a good quality of service, as defined by the operator and contracts with subscribers, and comply with different government regulations across the world, e.g., so they do not interfere with other signals. In particular, these signals should not interfere with other signals that are transmitted and received over the air. One can define interference as anything that modifies, or disrupts a signal as it travels along a channel between a source and a receiver. Interference occurs, for example, when two transmitters use the same (or overlapping) frequencies. Radio frequency (RF) signals from a cable network normally “do not cause interference when cable systems comply with interference regulations in the region of service, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United states, or analogous government agencies in countries where the subscription service is being rendered, but the signals can ‘leak’. Cable signal leaks occur when the RF signals transmitted within a cable system are not properly contained. Signal leaks can be caused by loose connectors, damaged equipment or unterminated cables”.
The local government may declare some communication systems (cellular networks, aviation communications) as critical for the population and impose strict regulations so that no other signal interferes with these. In the case of aviation communications in U.S. of A., the FCC regulates what levels of interference are tolerable and which are not admitted.
When there is interference, the quality of the signals is degraded, and sometimes this may even render the communication channels temporarily useless, e.g., in the vicinity of the problem, mobile communications are not available, one or more channels/signals are not available to cable TV subscribers, et cetera.
Previously, operators rendering services through a cabled network (including cable TV operators and mobile phone operators) detected interferences reactively, for example, by triaging alert reports received through clients, e.g., after receiving client complaints the operator would monitor basic key performance indicators (KPI) from the base radio stations, then diagnose the problem, and make a decision: e.g., fix, patch or ignore. However, this information may not allow precise pinpointing of the source of trouble, and the operator may need to have a technician visit the physical location of the potential problem to complete the diagnostic.
With cable TV, close-range location of interferences has been possible for some time. In order to detect if interference is occurring at a given spot of a cabled network one can place an antenna sufficiently close to this spot and process the signal. For example the signal can be recorded with the use of a software-defined radio (SDR), see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software-defined_radio) and then an analysis of the signal may help in the diagnostic. Cable Television Laboratories Inc. (CableLabs), the not-for-profit innovation and research and development lab founded by American cable operators, has released code that can be run in a computer device connected to a software-defined radio and configured so that at any given spot it can answer if there is interference in its vicinity in the case of Cable TV networks.
Some existing solutions have paired antennas with RF receivers and a GPS in order to detect leakage and record the geographical of these findings. In some cases, a monitored indicator or screen may turn red, or sounds an alarm if the signal received has an amplitude over a configured threshold in a configured frequency. Hence, a person monitoring this solution can record that there is a leak in the spot where the alarm was heard, or the red signal appeared. Analogous versions replace this form of leakage detection (looking at the amplitude at a configured frequency) with other forms of rudimentary detection. In some cases, the person is not required. The information is recorded into computer storage (e.g., a hard drive) using a standard format, e.g., a comma-separated file, so that an analyst can open this file and manually analyze the findings recorded.
While the operator can count a number of complaints as a measure of quality of service, this may be imprecise and provide little actionable information, as the operator may still need to do further analysis of each of these complaints to diagnose problems. Moreover, the operator may not proactively detect any interference. Hence, the operator may not understand the quality of service he is providing, nor effectively plan improvements. Therefore, there is a need in the industry to address one or more of the above mentioned issues.